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Sarah Plum

K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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You are here: Home / Archives for Freebie

My Ruby Red Danskos + A Freebie!

July 5, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 10 Comments

I wish. I totally wish I had a pair of ruby Danskos, or that this post was about me finding out they even make a pair of ruby Danskos — nope! This post is actually about my metaphorical ruby Danskos, or what a day in my life was like as a student teacher.
For reference, these would be the actual Danskos (my feet are so big and awkward I have to buy the men’s) that graced my soles:
5:00 a.m. – Alarm goes off, depending on how much sleep I’ve gotten (assuming I’ve gone to sleep at all, hah!) I may or may not hit snooze. I shower/get dressed/put finishing touches on lesson plans and materials.
6:45 a.m. – Wheels up and out of the driveway.
8:00 a.m. – Drop William off at daycare. (Depending on traffic, we have about an hour commute to his daycare!)
8:30 a.m. – I get dropped off at my school and Mr. Plum drives to his two miles away. (Both of us completed our internship at the same time — a mere two miles apart in the same school district!)
8:45 a.m. – Shovel a hardboiled egg down while writing the morning message and laying out the days’ materials.
9:05 a.m. – Kiddos walk in, announcements start, and I pretend I am well-rested and totally energetic!
9:25 a.m. – Language Arts block starts; guided reading happens, center rotations, mini-lessons, etc. We do a big word study focus on Monday, and then are pretty flexible the rest of the week.
11:25 a.m. – Science or social studies starts, depending on the day. About half the time these two subjects gets integrated with language arts, which I loved doing.
12:20 p.m. – Time for lunch! I drop the kiddos off, heat up my lunch (assuming I didn’t leave it in the car — which is two miles away — d’oh!) and eat lunch with the kiddos and my cooperating teacher.
12:50 p.m. – We head out for recess (and I try not to burn with my near-translucent skin).
1:20 p.m. – We head inside and start math, and try not to roast like chicken in our un-air-conditioned hotbox. Sometimes we’d do centers or small group, but this bunch of kiddos responded best to whole-group math instruction.
2:20 p.m. – SPECIALS TIME! I do a happy dance and hope the kiddos don’t see.
3:05 p.m. – I pick ’em up from specials, we wrap up with some fun activities, and do a few administrative tasks (notes, signing agendas, reviewing homework, afternoon annoucements, etc.).
3:30 p.m. – I wave bye-bye and get some much-appreciated hugs from the kiddos.
4:30 p.m. – Mr. Plum picks me up, and we swap war stories from the day on the way to pick up William.
5:00 p.m. – We pick up William, he immediately demands snacks, and we oblige. If we’ve remembered them. Hopefully.
6:15 p.m. – We roll into the driveway, and immediately collapse. Just kidding.
7:00 p.m. – We eat dinner… well, William eats dinner. Mr. Plum and I just try and stay awake. I most certainly drink coffee.
9:00 p.m. – William hopefully is in his room, putting himself to sleep. I’m starting to sift through my massive to-do list, finish writing another four page lesson plan (torture, I tell you!), grade student papers, and write a reflection for each lesson I taught that day.
12:00 a.m. – Snack break. I’m probably on my second episode of Hoarders on Netflix by now.
2:00 a.m. – Generally finished creating/writing and printing, and now just laminating. I’ve moved on from Hoarders, and am probably watching Toddlers and Tiaras so that my outrage keeps me awake.
2:45 a.m. – Finally in bed. Usually.
By the time the weekend hit, both my husband and I were beat. Totally wiped out. When I look back on my final semester of graduate school, I honestly marvel at how we did it because the entire thing was one long blur. I do remember thinking about mid-way through that the days were just melting together and that it was best to “go with the flow.”

One thing is for certain — the experience solidified just how much I love this profession and could not possibly do anything else for the joy it has given me. Despite the complete and utter sleep deprivation (which I know everyone has experienced — a rite of passage!), I never wanted to give up. I never felt like the tasks before me were insurmountable, or dread getting up in the morning. That was a great feeling.

Now it’s your turn — tell me about a day in your shoes! Head on over to Ingles360 and link up as a part of TBA’s celebration of International Blog-Hopping Day!
And while you’re at it, you may as well head on over to my TPT store to grab this:
I’m celebrating with TBA by posting another freebie from my stint during student teaching! This freebie is a teacher “big book” and student booklet that can be used as basic reference or review for plane and solid geometric figures.
Do you have a freebie you’d like to share? Head on over to Kreative in Kinder to link up and share one!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Freebie, Meet the Teacher, Sleep is Overrated, Student Teaching, Teachers Pay Teachers

Monday (Almost Didn’t) Made It!

July 3, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 14 Comments

During my student-teaching internship this spring I made a lot of resources. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. I don’t know why I thought it’d be a good idea to literally re-invent the wheel during internship, especially during an internship that my husband was also completing, while having a 2.5 year old, and commuting 90 minutes each way (totally serious — it happened). But I did!
This meant a lack of sleep for the months between December and May, but it has yielded great satisfaction since — especially in preparing for my own classroom and curriculum! One of my more lackluster projects was posters for the basic science process skills. Yes, folks, they were sad.

Check out all that white space and Microsoft clipart!

In searching for something else on Google Drive (P.S. thank you Google for that, it is a lifesaver!) I came across the original files and decided they needed a makeover immediately. And most importantly? This needed to be like Skittles (taste the rainbow) exploded all over them. What’s better than science? Bright, colorful science that makes you smile.
Thanks to some clipart from some of my favorite people on the internet (check them out on the sidebar), I made over my process skills posters in a very Oz-like fashion.

Oh yes… much, much better.
But that wasn’t enough for me on what is now my first Monday (oh my word, it’s 10:20pm!) Made It. I decided to print them (thank you, Canon) and laminate them (thank you, Scotch) and hang them (thank you Staples). And in doing so, I discovered a little shortcut to hole-punching accurately that I’m sure all of you pros already know!

Reinforcers. Yep.

All I did was measure where I wanted to make my initial punches, put the sticky reinforcers down, and then guide the hole punch right over it. It made it so easy to create a template to do all of the other posters with, and in literally ten minutes I had this:

Bam! Instant science-happiness.
(Excuse the poor camera work. There’s not enough light!)

So, it’s Monday. And I made it.

Would you like these posters for your classroom? Head on over to my TPT store and snag yourself a copy! (Sidenote: I’m totally doing a happy dance in my office chair because, yes, after three years of admiring everyone else’s work, I listed something of my own!)

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Classroom Decor, Freebie, Getting Organized, It's science., Monday Made It, Teachers Pay Teachers

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About the Author

Sarah Plum(itallo) is a teacher of emerging multilinguals and 21st Century Grant coordinator in Virginia. She writes curriculum for inclusive classrooms and presents professional development on a variety of topics.

Read more about Sarah and her background in education here.

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